20 - Lay Me Down
by teddybowties
Summary: SUMMARY OF RASSILON: River is playing Bridge Over Troubled Water on the piano in a nightclub. The Thirteenth Doctor is there with some companions. An accident happens… Just some sad fluff that hit me randomly.


DISCLAIMER OF RASSILON: Nothing is owned by me, except what is. Which ain't much. Simon and Garfunkel PWN me, actually.

Lay Me Down

_When you're weary  
>Feeling small<br>When tears are in your eyes  
>I will dry them all<em>

Her hands skirt over the keys.

Her pretty boy is over there, flirting with Jack as though he hadn't just got washed by fifty other tongues.

Martha is sitting at the bar. There's a pink neon light above her head, flashing _Eat Me_, like the cake in _Through the Looking Glass_.

It's the instrumental version now, classic and jazzy, because the boys have forgotten to keep singing. She sighs and performs another run.

_I'm on your side  
>When times get rough<br>And friends just can't be found  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will lay me down  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will lay me down_

The club doors open again. In comes a feliniform clubber girl with Egyptian cheekbones and high ears, in nothing but short grayish hair tipped in gold. With a tufted tail. An Abyssinian.

Naturally, the Doctor's eyes float over her. He's wearing his eleventh body, as a lark this time, right down to the tweed and the bowtie. As for the cat, she's like an art piece to him. They all are.

As she plays the next run, River calls out, "Watch out! His bowtie is really a camera!"

The Abyissinian roars with laughter, then puts an arm around him and Jack.

They cackle together.

River decides this must be an old friend, and smiles, launching into the next movement of the song.

_When you're down and out  
>When you're on the street<br>When evening falls so hard  
>I will comfort you<em>

The Doctor is raising a glass to the cat woman now. Jack's hand is on her grey-gold buttocks, tight and sleek, grabbing a bit of thigh. But the green eyes, those lovely hazel and chalcedonies, they're on her. On River. She can see him looking in the reflection of his glass. And he knows it.

_I'll take your part  
>When darkness comes<br>And pain is all around  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will lay me down  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will lay me down_

His irises dilate suddenly, as thought awareness is swallowing them. He's up in a moment, his hand against the Abyssinian's slender chest, his fingers hunting through her close fur. Then he pushes her down.

_Sail on Silver Girl,  
>Sail on by<br>Your time has come to shine  
>All your dreams are on their way<em>

Jack is looking down. He doesn't like what he sees. His fingers twitch around his Webley, but the gunman in the Gaberdine suit runs smack into Martha. She smashes a glass over his head. He goes down.

River wants to get up, so badly, but if she just keeps playing, if she just keeps… but the song is almost… it's almost…

She can't hear them, but she can read their lips. She has to, because the Doctor is on the floor. The cat woman isn't. His blood is streaked across her face in the most beautiful pattern River has ever seen. It's like a rose, with petals and everything.

JACK: Jesus, he's going.

ABYSSINIAN: Oh goddess, I didn't even know him. Was he a good man?

MARTHA: The best.

JACK: It went through both, Martha. Oh god it went through both. He's gonna-

River gasps. Jack's mouth is obscured by the Doctor's hand as he reaches up. By the look on their faces, he must be smiling.

_See how they shine  
>If you need a friend<br>I'm sailing right behind  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will ease your mind  
>Like a bridge over troubled water<br>I will ease your mind_

She finishes the song, then pushes away from the piano, training her sights on the pool of blood spreading out from his body, between their feet. Her high heels click like tap shoes on the dance floor. Nobody's moving.

They don't move as she kneels down and presses her face to his chest, holding his arm against her .

They don't move as she unties his bowtie, then slides his tweed jacket off his body.

She puts it all on, first the bowtie, then the tweed. one last kiss to lips that are, strangely and not so strangely, warm now, before she straightens and stands. Her eyes are fierce and dark, and full of brightness.

She's got work to do.


End file.
